It's What's Inside That Counts
by Schermionie
Summary: Beauty is a powerful thing. But then, so's ugliness. - Astoria/Draco/Gabrielle, oneshot.


Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the rightful owner of the Harry Potter series. I am merely borrowing her characters for a while.

* * *

It was an accident (they tell her). An accident. _Right_.

.

Astoria looks at her and has to laugh at the irony. That a hideous accident could make this bitch _beautiful_.

But, oh, she was _already_ beautiful, _wasn't she_? Before. Now, though, she's _exceptional_. The scars decorate her, bejewel her. They _accentuate_ her high cheekbones. (Cheekbones sharp enough to _slice_, too.)

Those outside-scars have beautified her further - sweet irony, then. And Astoria's not the only one who notices. This delicacy. This uniqueness. Her former beauty shattered like diamonds - only glittering and tinkling around her again as she healed and re-learned laughter.

Laugh she does (Astoria imagines). When you can look into the mirror and see lines across your skin as beauty, what is there to do but laugh? When you're a thief who catches instead of getting caught, _you'll just be laughing_! Laughing. _Laughing_. (Men rush to pick up shattered diamonds.)

Like little mirrors reflecting that beauty even further, those sparkle diamonds lead to that towering pedestal she perches on. Has always perched on. The steep climb appeals to those men, who, trapped in the complacency of an arranged marriage, are suddenly set on a _treasure_ hunt - the hunt they've been denied. Oh, and hooked on that thrill, how resentment builds!

Resentment builds on the foundations of happiness. For happiness _has_ a foundation - or, it did do. But _she_ doesn't use foundation anymore. Such concealing powder would cover up those sharp lines on her _fuckingperfect_ skin: those alluring imperfections men _long_ to trace. Draco cupped Astoria's cheek that way, once, ran his smooth hands over her body. But now his hands feel for roughness, difference - not_ that same old wanting body_.

_Jewellery_ isn't necessary for that rebuilt-with-happiness jewel, either, and though she has legions of admirers - has the most important admirer of all - she doesn't ever receive it. No one would want to place anything around _her_ neck - not now. It's beautiful enough. Instead, it's left for _Astoria_ to tear apart the ostentatious velvet of a jewellery box encasing feelings from long ago. She now understands those neglected women who wear too much jewellery. _They're trying to shine along with it._

Perhaps it's the very rockiness of an affair's foundations that form its appeal. The chance of falling - well, it increases the chances of _falling_. They'd had the steady foundations for happiness, and they'd built on them - but. But foundations don't make up the structure itself, do they? Children become your world, and even as the life you're building gets higher, higher, you forget the beams supporting it. Now Astoria's been sharply reminded, though. Collapsing jagged splinters pierce and scar her heart even as it rots. Beauty is a powerful thing.

.

It was an accident!

Draco knows she doesn't believe that.

Astoria despises losing, but the perfume he no longer cares she smells reminds her that she - almost - has. She still has _one_ thing his _beauty-on-the-side_ doesn't, however - their marriage. So, although her hatred's **festering**, her _own_ perfume stays strong.

Perhaps he can smell her wounds anyway, though, because he's not fooled. He obviously doesn't want divorce, a defiance of their fathers. But _she_ can't conceal why she's clutching onto _him_, either.

Jealousy.

Bitterness.

..._Rotten_ irony, then. That inside-scars can be more obvious - _uglier_ - than the outside-scars just everyone can see.

* * *

Challenges: Completely Random Challenge by Dangerously Avril (Draco/Astoria, scar), The Adultery Challenge With a Twist by Scarlet Sparkle (Character A cheats on Character B. Character B stays with A, but not because B loves them), my 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Challenge (word counts of 10, 20, 30 etc) and the 8th November prompt at the Daily Prompts From the Mods thread, 'Beauty is a powerful thing'. All challenges from the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forum.

A/N: Many years ago, I remember reading a book in which an exceptionally beautiful character was assaulted and cut with a knife. Contrary to what you might expect, however, the characters around her thought that she was even more beautiful with the scars than without them. I think this must have stayed with me, though the book itself has not, because when I saw the prompt 'scar', I thought of beauty.

That - as well as the theme of jealousy among women - was what I wished to explore in this story.

If you read it, please leave me a review.


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